Lately, a new HEMA store opened very close to my house and one day, I went there to check out what kinds of products they have. HEMA is a large national chain store in the Netherlands, where you can get decent things, mostly household goods, basic clothing pieces, and food, for a reasonable price. They are very famous for their Dutch sausages (in Dutch: rookworsten). If you want to know more, you can have a look at their official website (in Dutch, but you can look at the pictures only or use Google translate?): www.hema.nl.

Update: The HEMA online store now has international delivery for the EU region and they added nail polishes, which wasn't available before.

It has been quite a while since I last visited a HEMA store, so it was quite refreshing for me to see what they are selling now. What drew my attention the most, was the cosmetics counter. In the past, the HEMA cosmetics were not that appealing to me, but they have come up with quite some interesting cosmetics lately. I saw that like other companies, they have also made a version of the Clinique Chubby sticks and they have a bigger range of nail polishes now. I was also thinking of picking up some of the wet-look nail polishes, but I already bought too many of the Long Lasting nail polishes. They only cost €2.50 per bottle, very cheap!

So, let me show you two of the HEMA Long Lasting nail polishes that I have bought. I will swatch the rest of the four nail polishes another day. My nails need some rest from all the swatching. ^_^

First up, is the HEMA Long Lasting Nailpolish #823 Bordeaux. It is a dark red polish with very little shimmer particles in gold, orange, red, and purple.The shimmer is so small that you cannot see them unless you look closely and with enough light. This makes it different from the Pa nail polish A81 that I own. The Pa A81 's glitter is larger and the color is lighter red, while the HEMA #823 is more wine red. The first row of pictures do not represent the actual color too well, the other two pictures taken in the shade are a lot more similar to what it really looks like. Similar nail polishes would probably be: Zoya Sarah, Opi Bogotta Blackberry, China glaze Riveter rouge, Chanel Malice, and Chanel Metal Garnet.

Next, the HEMA Long Lasting Nail polish #850 Black Spa. It is a black nail polish with a bit of shimmer in dark navy blue. The shimmer of this nail polish is less noticeable than the one mentioned above. You really need to have light directed on the nails in the right angle or else it would just look like an ordinary black nail polish. It becomes a lot more shimmery at night and with artificial light though, so perfect for parties. Similar polishes would be the Chanel Blue Satin and China Glaze Little Drummer Boy.

Both of the nail polishes have been able to cover the nails fully with just one layer. The HEMA nail polishes did not disappoint me. I am very curious about the other, not so dark colors that I have bought. Here is a little preview of the other four HEMA nail polishes that I will be swatching.

Some more pictures of the HEMA nail polish #823 again. The wine red is really stunning. The pictures are getting better now that it has gotten darker outside.

Update: Find the swatches of the other HEMA nail polishes that I bought here: